The Giving Birthdays

Birthday parties are always fun, but our friends are finding a way to make them even more fun: let the kids learn that Jesus wasn't kidding when he said it is better to give than to receive.  The idea is that instead of bringing a gift for the birthday child, the guests are invited to bring a donation to bless children who are truly in need.  Our kids' friends have given to children's homes, orphans, and local children's programs through their birthday parties.  A few have used their birthday parties to send our family to Africa!

Noah and Colin had a swimming party last week for their ninth birthday.  Titus informed me, "They are not little kids anymore!"  It seems nine is the age to be these days.

 

Back in April, Baby Avie turned one with a "Jesus Loves the Little Children" themed party and her guests donated to From Daniel's Tears.  Such a cute idea!

 

There was another birthday in which the guests donated to our missions fund, but I don't have any pictures because we don't even know the family who hosted it.  How amazing is that?  For a child to give up presents at his party to send a family he has never met to Africa! 

 

We praise God for parents teaching generosity at such a young age.



A Night to Remember

One thing I (Sara) am not is a city driver.  Not. Not. Not.  So, the idea of driving to the University of Little Rock campus for the very first time through rush hour traffic for an 8:00 am orientation Monday morning from 86 miles away (where we are staying at Philip's sister's house) was pretty much terrifying.  It made sense to make the drive the day before so I could find the school and the route under no pressure.  What I really wanted to do was go Sunday afternoon to find the school and then stay somewhere nearby that night so that on the first day I wouldn't have to deal with traffic and commuting.  The trouble with this plan was it involved the cost of a hotel room.  If you thought I was frugal before, you should see what goes through my mind now that much of our money is someone's gift to God.  Talk about stewardship motivation! 

 

I said a prayer Saturday night that I would only do the Little Rock hotel room idea if I knew He intended the money to be spent that way.  Since I couldn't say that about any of the money we had already received, He would have to provide money for a hotel room on Sunday (the next day).  This was highly unlikely, so I really dismissed the whole idea.  But He did not.  After church a sweet friend, without asking any questions, opened her wallet and handed me everything inside.  She said, "I don't know how much this is, but it's for you."  This is a friend who is moving with her family of seven to Russia this fall and "I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more."  I was dumbfounded.  I knew exactly what this was for, but considering the source, was all the more hesitant to spend it on a silly hotel room just because of my fear of city traffic! 

 

I felt like the Lord said, "Did you ask for it?"

"Yes." 

"Did I give it to you as you asked?"

"Yes." 

"Then what is your problem?" 

After lunch I booked a Priceline hotel for that very evening, packed a bag and the family and off we went into the city to find the school. 

 

Then we found our hotel.  Keep in mind we had used Priceline, which means we chose the price but did not know what hotel it was until it was booked.  We were feeling abundantly blessed just because God answered my prayer to be spending the night in the city, so when we walked into the fancy Embassy Suites lobby with fish swimming through a stream and fountains on every side, we were drop dead in awe of the Lord's provision.  We had not asked for THIS!  They were serving a "manager's  reception" (which became dinner for our family!) and we had time to play our new yard sale find "Missionary Conquest" in our room after  swimming in the indoor pool.  The next morning we all enjoyed a huge hotel breakfast and, while I was in class, Philip took the kids swimming again where another family prayed over ours.  I mean, seriously, how much more perfect can it get?

 

I hope to forever remember this night when we see a glass elevator as the kids reaction to riding in their first one was priceless.  I don't think this night was intended just to make my transition into summer school easy, but as a transformative moment for our family to understand the power of open-handed generosity.  If we ever encounter a glass elevator again, it will remind me to tell the story of this night, ending with "Our Father is SO generous.  Now let us go and be likewise."

 

Orientation and Mobility for the Blind Class

I always enjoyed school, but this is the first time I remember leaving a class, going to my car and crying a happy cry.  As our friend Taylor said, "Sometimes God gives you desires of your heart you didn't know He'd placed there."  This Orientation and Mobility class at the University of Arkansas is just such a dream come true.  I am in the class because there are many skills I needed to learn before I could be Daniel's teacher in Africa (without the resources available here).

 

"God, I don't want to settle for the 'mommy version' of the skills he needs," I prayed. 

 

I felt like His response was, "Then don't." 

 

That is a lot easier said than done!  I brought before the Lord the financial obstacle of formal training knowing the only way I could stay enrolled in the program was the off chance our house would sell quickly and for enough money to cover the tuition.  The house sold quicker and for more than necessary.  So after two semesters of bookwork, I find myself in class daily wearing a blindfold, carrying a long cane, and surrounded by professionals who are spending their lives training people with visual impairments.  It's AWESOME! 

 

The next three weeks of the class itself is daunting with four textbooks to read, driving in rush hour traffic in an unfamiliar city to get to class, and the (intentional) frustration of navigating the world blindfolded during simulations.  But it is all worth it, as I know I am here at the Lord's invitation to love my son and serve him beyond my ability.
 

Like The Wind

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

John 3:8

A friend told us we remind her of this verse.  That, of course, just made us laugh and appreciate our family and friends who graciously accommodate us as our travels unfold.  Sometimes we don't know until within an hour where we'll be eating a meal or until the day of where we'll be staying the night.  I'm sure these are survival skills as we'll be needing flexibility and freedom and relationships that can stand a little uncertainty.

 

We spent this past week in Kentucky with lots of details to attend to such as a passport appointment for the kids, a dentist appointment, a vaccination appointment, and a driver's license renewal.

The big project was this solar dehydrator Philip built at his Aunt Beth's house, inspired by the class at ECHO.  Beth is going to experiment with it this summer and we may be dreaming up other appropriate technology we want to try out on this side of the ocean.

 

Dev & Doug FUN-raiser

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

 

Our friends Blair and Rheanel excel at many things, one of which happens to be throwing a party!  This weekend they brought in their favorite band from Louisville, reserved the back area of Whaler's Catch downtown, and ordered the perfect summer weather.  Somewhere in the midst of a fancy dinner and good music, we landed $3,500 closer to Africa. 

 

Whoever said fundraising was going to be hard, laborious work clearly hadn't met our friends.  Thanks for the fun, Blair and Rheanel, and many thanks to each of your generous friends.

Missions Sunday

Four continents were represented in Missions Sunday at a church in San Antonio last week.  Our work is the Africa arm of the missions efforts.  These sweet kids are getting their fair share of sitting through back to back church services....and doing it cheerfully!  That is a blessing in and of itself.

 In each service, we had 5 minutes to share our story with the congregation.  Another blessing.  The best blessing of all was this.......

Coming out of second service to find our friend Troy already surrounded by a crowd at our booth as he is enthusiastically sharing our vision.  It's so cool to see we are one small part in a BIG movement of many hearts for West Africa's little ones.

Our Big God

Throughout Scripture, the main character is God.  We are encouraged to see the same story unfolding as we are in the middle of visiting with seven churches in six weeks.  Those who have committed to join our Africa support team have not done so because of our eloquent words or fancy speeches.  No,  we are hearing stories of God's work in their lives prior to our lives intersecting with theirs.  They aren't supporting us because of US, they are supporting us because of the Lord God Almighty.  Meeting with churches is a joy when we know it's not up to us to persuade people to join us.  If our supporters joined us because we impressed them, then we might lose that support as soon as we did something unimpressive.  On the other hand, the awesome people we have met are excited with us about what THE LORD is doing in their lives and churches, and in ours.  Now, that is the basis of a PARTNERSHIP!

I'm (Sara) also coming to an understanding that the people we meet with are not {scary} strangers but brothers and sisters we had not yet met.  To date, there has been one presentation in which I did not get nervous at all.  This is quite an improvement!  As we watch others (especially Saturn Road's teenagers!) take the burden for Burkina's orphans upon themselves, we are reminded how small we are and how BIG our great God is and how much this is all about Him.